As soon as Duan Luoyang's sword came in contact with the man's skin, the man turned into thousands of small black paper cranes that fell down.
Jie Fu Lian gulped as he looked over towards the right side before he jumped up, ignoring Duan Luoyang and the paper cranes, to go after another target who had been hiding all this while.
Hua Tianshu looked at the paper cranes with only a little surprise before immediately turning his head to stare at the direction Jie Fu Lian had ran off to.
"Let's go," Hua Tianshu spoke without even looking at Duan Luoyang and followed after Jie Fu Lian.
"M-Master, wait for me," Duan Luoyang sounded a bit scared as he ran after Hua Tianshu who was moving a bit too fast.
It was probably the first time Duan Luoyang had seen such a trick of turning into paper cranes and he couldn't quite make sense of it, hence, it was only natural that he had been scared.
Jie Fu Lian clenched his jaw and immediately grabbed a man's neck before pulling him up and almost choking him to death.
"Who are you?" He questioned as he glared at the man who was wearing a black mask to cover up his face.
The man had been taken by surprise and looked to be a bit terrified as he grabbed Jie Fu Lian's hand and struggled to break free from his hold.
Jie Fu Lian tightened his grip around the man's neck and looked at him without having any intention of letting go.
"Uncle Fu, you'll kill him!" Duan Luoyang, who had managed to catch up with Hua Tianshu and Jie Fu Lian shouted with panic as he looked at Jie Fu Lian's actions.
Even after hearing these words, Jie Fu Lian still refused to let go and ignored the presence of Duan Luoyang.
"Who are you?" He asked once again and could feel the man slowly losing his life underneath his fingertips.
Veins could be seen popping up on his forehead and just before the man was about to lose his consciousness, Jie Fu Lian let go and the man dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Frantically gasping for air and rubbing his neck, the man didn't dare raise his head to look at Jie Fu Lian.
"Ah, I remembered!" Jie Fu Lian suddenly smiled as he spoke, "Your identity doesn't matter, isn't that what you said?"
The man didn't respond and simply kept sitting on the ground with his head lowered.
Jie Fu Lian laughed as he spoke, "Since your identity doesn't matter, take me to your leader. You see, I'm not a person to be messed with. The tricks played by your puppet are merely enough to entertain me. If you want to keep your soul intact then you better listen to me."
Even Duan Luoyang felt a little intimidated as he heard Jie Fu Lian's words that were matched with with his arrogant demeanor.
Jie Fu Lian crouched down to the ground and pulled the man's chin up to face him as he smiled and spoke, "Don't even think about deceiving me. You are far too young and ignorant for it. I am not in a good mood today and it would be bad for you to piss me off right now."
"..."
'Are you sure you aren't already pissed off...?!'
The man gulped as he closed his eyes and sighed before slowly speaking, "I-I'll take you to him."
Jie Fu Lian smiled with satisfaction as he let go of the man's chin.
Hua Tianshu quitely took Jie Fu Lian's hand and wiped it with a piece of cloth. Although Jie Fu Lian was caught by surprise, he didn't bother stopping the man nor did he question it.
The man who sat on the ground and saw Hua Tianshu's reaction couldn't help but feel a little awkward as he thought in his mind, 'Respected customer, I take baths daily. Why are you acting as if he touched a muddy pig...?!'
In the end, the man decided that it was best not to voice out his thoughts and simply sighed as he pushed himself off the ground and grumbled, "Follow me."
The group of three followed after the man with no questions asked and soon, they reached the information guild that had no definite location.
At first, when Jie Fu Lian had heard about it, he was a bit confused to know that the information guild didn't have a building or a location, but now, he was no longer confused about it.
The information guild really didn't have a building nor did it have a specified location because it was located inside an illusion that transported them to another dimensional space.
Duan Luoyang and Hua Tianshu had been here before so they were naturally not shocked to see their surroundings, but it was the first time Jie Fu Lian had come here so it was only natural that he felt a little amazed and excited.
They were walking on a narrow hallway with walls so high that it couldn't even be seen where the ceiling was.
At the end of the hallway, there was a door that was just as high as the walls and as soon as they approached it, the door opened on its own, revealing a stage with lights pointing at the middle of the stage from all directions.
Jie Fu Lian gulped as he stepped onto the stage and looked around.
As far as he could see, it was all black but although nothing could be seen, he couldn't say that there was no one present.
He felt the presence of atleast fifty or more people who were looking at him and reading his every moment.
Now that they had entered the information guild, the number of people monitoring them had doubled.
"What brings you here?" A voice came from above and Jie Fu Lian was a bit surprised.
"It's really you!" Jie Fu Lian enthusiastically exclaimed as he immediately recognized the voice.
Ever since he had heard about the existence and working of an information guild, he had felt that there was only one man capable of thinking to run such a thing in Xiujiang.
"Bai YiJun, it's been so long!" Jie Fu Lian was so excited that he carelessly exclaimed without realizing what was wrong with his reaction.
Duan Luoyang looked to be a bit shocked as he stared at Jie Fu Lian with his eyes wide open, not even knowing which question he was supposed to ask first. Should it be 'You know Bai YiJun?!' Or 'The leader of the information guild is Bai YiJun?!' or should it be 'Wasn't Bai YiJun a cripple and a lunatic?!'
Hua Tianshu, on the other hand, simply frowned as he saw Jie Fu Lian's enthusiastic reaction and heard the name 'Bai YiJun'.
"Respected Customer, Have we met before?" The voice once again came from above, questioning back with a hint of confusion.
Jie Fu Lian was about to impulsively scold the man for forgetting him but he immediately stopped himself when he realized the fact that he was currently inside the body of the demon king.
The real Jie Fu Lian had already died so there was no way Bai YiJun would be able to recognize him.
When Jie Fu Lian thought about this, he couldn't help but feel a little sad.
He and Bai YiJun had been quite close with each other. They were considered friends and partners in crime. Jie Fu Lian only visited Xiujiang during the months of spring but their friendship was still quite deep.
The main reason why he visited Xiujiang every year might have been for the Osmanthus cakes but the second main reason was because of Bai YiJun. Each year, he looked forward to visiting his friend. They would talk all about the adventures they had while they were away from each other and would laugh as Bai YiJun narrates the embarrassing things he did in order to be seen as a lunatic.
They were so close and had really treasured their friendship.
Hell, they were so close that they had even kissed each other!
"Respected Customer?" The voice came again, waking Jie Fu Lian out of his thoughts.
He gulped as he realized that he couldn't just say, 'Bai YiJun, how can you not recognize me? I'm Jie Fu Lian! Your one and only true friend!'
In the end, he sighed and cleared his thoughts as he spoke, "We haven't met but I have been following Young Master Bai YiJun for a long time now. I admire you quite a lot so I can recognize you from just your voice."
"..." No response came and Jie Fu Lian had to repeat his words in his head just to check whether he had said something weird or not.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a wheelchair coming towards them and what followed was the voice that replied, "I understand. It is an honor to be admired by you but to say that you have been following me for a long time... I'm afraid it feels a little creepy."
The voice chuckled.
Hua Tianshu rolled his eyes.
Jie Fu Lian happily grinned.
And Duan Luoyang looked as if his soul had left his body after receiving too many shocks.